Health Net-Maxxis' John Murphy held onto the overall lead and the points competition lead following Saturday's penultimate stage of the Tour de Taiwan. The stage was a 58km criterium held outside the Taipei International Bicycle Show, a major industry event.

Murphy held off a challenge from last year’s winner, Shawn Milne of Team Type 1. Milne won the event last years for the Health Net team and entered Saturday's stage seven seconds behind Murphy.

An early break scooped up the first two time bonus primes, preventing Milne from gaining ground. Milne's team brought back the break just before the third prime, and Milne grabbed the bonus, reducing Murphy's lead to five seconds.

Soon after, a large crash delayed the race, which officials stopped while they treated injured riders. They restarted the race with nine laps to go, and Milne quickly went on the attack, byt was reeled in by Health Net.

In the bunch sprint for the win, stage 1 winner Kam Po Wong (Hong Kong Cycling Team) repeated his success, with with Murphy taking a close third behind Shinichi Fukushima (Team Meitan Hompo-GDR).

Murphy's placing gave him a four-second bonus that brought his overall lead back up to nine seconds over Milne. His lead in the points competition also grew to a solid 27 over Takashi Miyazawa (Team Meitan Hompo-GDR).

Sunday's final stage is a 60km criterium in Taipei, passing by the headquarters of the Maxxis tire company, the co-sponsor of Murphy's team.